While Wonder Woman’s origin has changed and evolved as it has been retold over the years, one thing that remains constant is that she is a product of the gods. Whether she was molded out of clay by Amazon Queen Hippolyta and given life by the Greek pantheon or if she’s the illegitimate child of Zeus and Hippolyta, she is a demigod with divine power flowing through her veins. The Gods of Olympus bestowed blessings upon her, providing her with enhanced strength, longevity, speed, durability, senses, beauty and intelligence. Her godly nature also provides her with a natural defense against magical attacks, something that comes in handy when fighting all manner of sorcerers, witches, and supernatural monsters.

Also, it turns out that Wonder Woman’s iconic bracelets actually keep her true abilities in check, and taking them off unleashes an immense power within her that sends her into rage mode. Taking them off for the first time made for one of the most badass exchanges in all of comic book-dom:

(DC Comics)

The New 52 saw Wonder Woman kill Ares and take his place as the new God of War, giving her all the powers of arguably the most dangerous of the gods. Another notable upgrade came at the end of Blackest Night where she was chosen to wield the power of the Star Sapphire. Although both of these power increases were temporary, they demonstrate that she’s capable of harnessing even more power than she already possesses.

Special Weapons

(DC Comics)

She’s formidable enough by nature, but Wonder Woman also makes regular use of a wide variety of special weapons.

In terms of defense, she does sometimes rely on Amazonian armor and shield, but she always wears her unbreakable bracelets, also known as the Aegis of Athena or the Bracelets of Submission, capable of deflecting bullets, lasers, heat vision and pretty much anything else that comes her way. That’s not to say they can’t be used offensively: she can precisely deflect projectiles back at her enemies like a Jedi or slam the bracelets together to generate a concussive blast. One version of the bracelets could magically produce edged weapons for her to use at a moment’s notice. And another gave her the ability to wield the lightning of Zeus.

She also has a tiara that provides her some protection against telepathy and gives her the ability to contact her Amazon sisters back home. She can also throw it like a razor-edged boomerang, one sharp enough to slice Superman’s throat.

(DC Comics)

Although if she wants to do some serious cutting she can always rely on her enchanted sword, forged by the god Hephaestus with a blade so fine it can cut the electrons off an atom, if you’re going by the Kingdom Come continuity.

The Lasso of Truth, also known as the Lariat of Hestia or the Golden Perfect, is Wonder Woman’s most iconic and unique item: a virtually unbreakable lasso made of golden thread. While she does use it as a weapon in battle to whip and capture enemies, it’s magical abilities are where its true value lies. Anyone ensnared in the lasso must speak the truth, which is helpful when you need to get crucial information out of the bad guy you just defeated.

And finally, Wonder Woman has the ability to fly. Usually this is one of her gifts from the gods, but we’ve also seen her wear the Boots of Hermes to take to the skies. Either way, it allows her to attack from any angle to get the upper hand on her enemies.

Looking to play Overwatch this weekend? You will be doubly rewarded. Blizzard announced today that Overwatch is hosting a double XP event June 8-12 on all platforms.

The XP bonus applies to almost every way you can earn XP, including completing matches, winning matches, earning medals, and more. Additionally, it stacks with group and IGR bonuses, but it does not boost your first win of the day bonus–that stays at 1500 XP.

The double XP event starts June 8 at 5 PM and comes to an end on Monday, June 12, at 11:59 PM PT. You can see how that time converts based on where you live in the image above.

“It’s been an incredible year, and we’re so thankful you were a part of it,” Blizzard said in a blog post announcing the Double XP event.

Ahead of its appearance at E3 Devolver Digital has unveiled a new action RPG with Roguelike elements set for release in 2018, The Swords of Ditto.

The single player or co-op RPG will come to PlayStation 4 and PC early next year in which players will fight to take down the evil Mormo, venturing out on “a unique adventure” with a new hero each time they play.

Developed by Onebitbeyond, Swords will log every new hero’s adventure that a player journeys on, and whatever progress is made in that outing will influence the next. Say, for example, the player stops Mormo, then the next time around the Island of Ditto will be a more joyful place. Players can recover loot and weapons from previous adventures.

Weapons will range from swords and bows to Frisbees and magical golf clubs, while players can also collect stickers and equip them for boosts and gear perks. Players can traverse the game’s dungeons in any order or even attempt to fight Mormo right from the start.

The next Mass Effect: Andromeda patch has landed. BioWare today released update 1.08, which expands the romance options for Scott Ryder, adds new options to the character creator, fixes bugs, and more.

Scott Ryder can now romance Jaal. BioWare points out that he’s the first squadmate of the same sex that Scott Ryder can become romantic with. Additionally, the update addresses one of Andromeda’s romance-themed achievements.

“Scott Ryder did not have a same-sex squadmate available as a romance option, nor could the achievement for completing three romances be achieved with only male same-sex partners,” BioWare explained in a blog post.

“And as the Angara have expressed their fluidity in how they perceive gender, it seemed only natural that Scott could have a relationship with Jaal,” the developer added. “The relationships with your crew are some of the most loved and cherished parts of our games, so we wanted to make sure we got it right. We consulted with members of the LGBTQ community, both externally and within our own studios. After carefully considering all feedback, we decided this was an important change to make, and one that made sense for Jaal, Scott, and the Angara.”

BioWare added that it hopes the relationship between Scott Ryder and Jaal “feels as fulfilling and memorable for Scott as it does for Sara.”

Today’s Andromeda update also improves the game’s character creator by adding two new head options, one each for male and female. There is also a new complexion option and more skin tones. Additionally, all hairstyles are now unlocked for both sexes, as is a new bald option.

What’s more, you can now change your appearance mid-game at a station on the Tempest.

Outside of those changes, the next patch fixes a number of bugs, including one where the audio for ammo pick-ups would not play correctly. Another issue addressed with this update is when melee attacks would not work if the revive icon was close to the center of the screen.

The full patch notes for Andromeda’s 1.08 update follow below.

Mass Effect: Andromeda 1.08 Patch Notes:

Single player

Ryder’s appearance can now be changed onboard the Tempest

Expanded the range of options available in the character creator

Jaal can now be romanced by Scott Ryder

Dialogue for Hainly Abrams was adjusted to change the flow of personal information she discusses with Ryder.

When it comes to gaming PCs — real ones, not repurposed college laptops forced to run Overwatch, badly — graphics cards are often the most expensive component in the box. The problem is, GPUs feel like a major investment, so you’re often tempted to stick with old faithful as long as possible, extracting, it feels like, the maximum bang for your buck.

From a gaming experience perspective, though, this can be a mistake. Sure, that older card can technically run the latest games, but its performance decreases with every passing month. Graphics technology continues to advance at a brisk pace, and as months become years even a top-of-the-line pixel-pusher devolves into a min-spec water-treader.

So you start making compromises, lowering the texture detail here (not enough graphics RAM!) and forgoing SSAO there. But framerates continue to decay until you’re lowering graphics settings to depths you never would’ve considered two years ago, just to try and maintain that magic 60 frames per second. And when your card’s finally old enough, “try” is the key word, because nothing’s going to coax those 60 frames outta the GPU equivalent of grandparents (sit with that metaphor for a moment).

That all in mind, why not break the feast-or-famine cycle by upgrading to a midrange GPU? Opting for mid-market GPUs lets you run current and upcoming games with excellent performance (crank those textures!) without killing your wallet (hooray, food and shelter!).

Preying for Performance

A good example comes in Prey, the latest hybrid first-person shooter / immersive sim from Arkane Studios and Bethesda. Prey is an awesome, open-ended sci-fi adventure that lives up to its immersive-sim pedigree, including genre royalty like System Shock 2 and Deus Ex. Arkane did an amazing job, and fans of those older classics should absolutely give Prey a shot. (Just watch out for all the aliens that camouflage themselves as innocuous objects, leading to tense explorations and numerous jump-scares.)

Prey is quite a good-looking game, using its fancy-pants 2017 engine tech to render a very convincing, massive, fully explorable space station that compares favorably to the legendary locales of the Shock franchise. But how does it run on yesteryear’s technology? For the sake of argument, say a Radeon R9 380 from 2015, a midrange 2015 card which a lot of folks still run today.

On a testbed R9 380 system Prey achieved an average of 68 fps at 1080p resolution and Very High presets. Good, but cutting it close. At the increasingly popular 1440p resolution performance decreased to an average of 39 fps, well below what many PC players — a demanding lot, to be sure — consider ideal, or even playable.

So the R9 380 doesn’t afford much headroom for sprucing up Prey’s impressive visuals. 1080p is the sweet spot, with higher pixel counts and refresh rates out of the question. Playable? Absolutely. But the R9 380’s days of ultra-setting, no-fuss 60 fps seem to be nearing their end.

Two Years of Performance Gains

Exhibit B: Try running the game on one of today’s midrange cards, like AMD’s Radeon RX 580. These cards, which hit about a month ago, come in 4GB and 8GB varieties and average around $250, the very definition of midrange. (For performance enthusiasts, the 8GB seems the obvious choice.)

Installing the RX 580 in the same system as before, Prey performance shows marked increases at Very High settings in both resolutions. Maxed-out 1080p kicks out an average of 110 fps, opening the door to increased refresh rates, such as on a FreeSync-compatible monitor. 60 fps is undoubtedly nice, but there’s much to be said for the increased fluidity and responsiveness of higher-refresh graphics.

If you prefer resolution over refresh — it’s cool, many people do — the new RX 580 delivers again. At 1440p / Very High it averages 69 fps, handily staying over the 60 fps baseline while drawing 1.7 times the pixels as at 1080p. Details pop more and aliasing becomes less apparent, improving the visual experience that much more.

Folks who don’t own a 1440p monitor can still use the RX 580’s extra horsepower to downscale from 1440p to 1080p via AMD’s Virtual Super Resolution feature, resulting in greatly decreased aliasing.

Worth It?

As Prey shows, two years of GPU advancements can make all the difference between an acceptable experience and an impressive one. For many, the improved experience and additional futureproofing will prove well worth the cost of upgrading.

While the R9 380, a midrange card from two years ago, can still deliver a solid Prey experience at 1080p, it’s definitely reaching its limits, and as new games continue to debut it will start losing the ability to hit that magic 60 fps. Meanwhile, today’s midrange RX 580 runs Prey approaching twice as fast, with room to pop up to 1440p or indulge in enhanced refresh rates at 1080p.

That’s a nice choice to have! And compared to ultra-expensive flagship GPUs, it’s not so painful to replace a two- or three-year-old midrange card that didn’t cost your past self an arm and a leg.

So that’s the case for upgrading a two-year-old GPU. Sure, oldie-but-goodie still does the job in many cases, but even if the end of its useful life isn’t imminent, it’s certainly on the horizon. When surprisingly fast yet reasonably priced cards like the RX 580 are providing much better experiences, maybe it’s time to think about makin’ that upgrade.